Chapter 4: ...Do Not Wake Me Again
The ringing of a phone cut through the silence of the Armed Detective Agency. Heads turned to look, then turned away as they saw Dazai yawn and lift his phone. A few seconds later, the phone was tossed back onto the desk, the call cancelled. Atsushi looked on dubiously, then sighed as Dazai ignored the ringing phone once again.
"Dazai-san, who is it?" Atsushi absently wondered, finishing up his report on the Fitzgerald Incident, as it had been dubbed. He spared a glance towards the ringing phone, which stopped ringing for a short while, before starting up again. A bead of sweat made its way down the side of his face as Dazai pressed the decline button without looking at the phone screen.
"No one important," Dazai trilled as he studiously ignored the exasperated looks from the rest of the Agency. A minute later, Atsushi's own phone started to ring. He looked at the unknown number for a beat, then accepted.
"Moshi moshi! Nakajima speaking-," "Jinko, tell Dazai-san that Chuuya-san is in danger!" "Hah?!" Atsushi shot to his feet, startled by the voice of his nemesis coming out of his phone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dazai raise an eyebrow at him, waiting for his response.
"Akutagawa, how-?" "Dammit, Jinko, just put me on speaker!" He pulled the phone away from his ear, deafened by the angry (or panicked?) shout of the mafioso, then pressed the speaker button, while the rest of the Agency looked on in various states of alarm.
"Dazai-san, can you hear me?" Akutagawa's voice came statically out from the phone, punctuated by crashing sounds. Dazai cocked his head, looking bored. "What is it, Akutagawa? If you've called just to ask for my recognition again-," "Hang recognition! Chuuya-san has activated Corruption!"
Dazai's smile froze. In a flurry of movement, he scooped up the phone, moving to the door amidst the confusion of the Agency. "Where, and how long?" he spoke to the phone, kicking the door open and jabbing at the elevator buttons. Atsushi trailed after him, half worried and half confused over the whole situation. Who was this Chuuya-san? How did Dazai-san and Akutagawa both know this person? And why were they so panicked over the fact that he had activated Corruption? He hurriedly followed Dazai into the lift, listening to Akutagawa's frantic replies and Dazai's clipped queries.
Reaching the ground floor, Dazai ran outside, disregarding the honks and close calls from motorists who shouted at him angrily. Yelping apologies left and right, Atsushi scuttled after Dazai, almost losing him in the alleyways and shortcuts that the older man took without hesitation. Half a dozen twists and turns later, they were running towards Yokohama's port.
Or rather, what was left of it. The warehouses that used to line the port were destroyed, with only a few steel columns jutting out of the ground to indicate where they had been. The concrete floor was cracked, craters littering the pathway. And everywhere, bodies were strewn across the port, some impaled upon the steel struts, some missing limbs, and others barely recognizable as human bodies, with how warped they were. As Atsushi took in the horrifying sight, he almost missed Dazai running past the carnage, further into the destruction. Gritting his teeth against the bile that threatened to come up, Atsushi followed him, avoiding the blood that covered the floor like paint. With a start, he heard the sounds of a battle, growing louder with every step he took. Turning the corner, he sucked in a breath of disbelief.
He'd seen ability battles before, sure, especially during the days of the three-sided war, but this, this took the cake, frosting and cherries on the top. There was a man/devil?/monster? floating in the air, red tattoos curling across his face and forearms as he hurled voids of black nothingness at his opponents, who scurried around screaming and dying as they were sucked into the black holes. There an air of wrongness, something that had invisible spiders crawling up his spine and freezing him in place, unable to do nothing else but stare in terror at the unearthly creature that laughed and laughed and laughed as he razed the earth, bathing himself in blood without a second thought. Too late, his mind registered a black hole heading towards him, oh gods this was it he's going to die -
"Rashoumon!"
A loop of darkness pulled him away from the void, sending him stumbling into Akutagawa, who grabbed his shoulder in a vice-like grip. He looked terrible, a bruise purpling his cheek while cuts littered his face. He made a cursory once-over on Atsushi, then called out to Dazai, who had escaped the attack earlier. "Dazai-san!"
"I know, I know!" Dazai yelled back, jumping over dead bodies and avoiding attacks with practiced ease. The man/monster turned at the sound of his voice, smiling grotesquely as he/it/they floated down to the floor. "Oh, Dazai," They purred, their eyes tiny pinpricks of black against the reddened sclera, "Come to stop me again?"
Dazai didn't reply, lunging for the man/monster/devil with a grunt. They sidestepped, avoiding his touch with a crazed laugh which turned into a choke when Dazai kicked out his leg, hitting them in the side and sending him crashing to the floor. A burst of bright blue light washed over the man, the red tattoos fading as the unnaturalness faded from the air, making it easier to breathe. Dropping to his knees, Dazai cupped the man's cheek with uncharacteristic gentleness.
"Chuuya?" A wet cough answered him, and Atsushi could see the fresh blood coming out of the man/monster/Chuuya's mouth from his vantage. Glazed blue eyes found worried brown ones, and Chuuya blinked blearily at the man. "Dazai...?" A hand grasped weakly at the air, immediately joined by Dazai's as he held it tightly.
"I'm here, Chuuya. You can rest now," Dazai reassured, releasing Chuuya's cheek to card through his hair, "Just leave it to me, partner."
Something dark stirred through the blue eyes. "Just like how I left it to you the last time?" Dazai's eyes widened, freezing as the red head coughed several times, struggling to breathe before succumbing to unconsciousness. Bowing his head, Dazai hugged Chuuya closer, never feeling so apart from his old partner as he did in that moment.
Quietly, the Shin Soukoku watched on as the Soukoku fell apart at the seams, one half holding on desperately to the other half, which had been so carelessly tossed aside, before being lost to the darkness.